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About Peter Jones

Peter Jones started life as a particularly rubbish Graphic Designer, followed by a stint as a mediocre Petrol Pump Attendant. After that he got embroiled in the murky world of credit cards until a freak accident with a zip zap machine (remember those?) restructured his DNA at the molecular level and gave him entrepreneurial powers. Now, Peter fills his days with writing and laughably calls it work. He's the author of How To Do Everything And Be Happy (www.howtodoeverythingandbehappy.com) and even as we speak he’s finishing up his debut novel, snappily entitled "The Good Guy’s Guide to Getting Girls". It’s good stuff. Honest. But don’t take our word for it, read more at: www.thegoodguysguidetogettinggirls.com. Peter lives just a few miles outside London with his cat CJ, who's possibly the smartest animal never to have appeared in a cartoon. From his window he can see France and the Eiffel Tower. Or is that Canvey Island Oil Refinery? He doesn’t own a large departmental store and probably isn’t the same guy you’ve seen on the TV show Dragons’ Den.
Website: http://www.peterjonesauthor.com
Peter Jones has written 10 articles so far, you can find them below.

why its impotent to have the rite grandma and prefect smelling by Peter Jones

Filed under amwriting, writing craft by Peter Jones on April 17, 2012 at 12:01 am {2 comments}

Peter Jones explains why a misplaced hyphen can dash your hopes of ever being published.

My first real literary ‘rejection’ came at the hands of an agent who we’ll call Kate Slash. On the day that Ms Slash received my manuscript she’d clearly discovered that her husband was indeed the cheating scumbag she’d always suspected he was. Moments later she burnt both slices of toast, the cat threw up all over her white carpet, and she broke a heel on her favourite shoes. I don’t know this for sure of course, but I’m guessing it must be the case because when the first three chapters of The Good Guys Guide to Getting Girls arrived on her desk she wasted no time in telling me how much she hated it. And my god, how she hated it.

I can’t recall off the top of my head all the things she said (although me being me, I assembled them into a list and diligently worked through each point over the following months) but I do remember her final scathing comment:

“Further more the manuscript is littered with typos which is very distracting, and shows a somewhat careless and slapdash approach to your writing.” Or words to that effect.

It was this remark that stung the most. Whilst I was prepared to take on board everything else she’d said, the one thing I was pretty sure I had nailed down was my spelling, and grammar. Throughout my entire professional life nothing I’d written had ever left my computer without being run through the internal spell check, and then read through by myself and my colleagues. Even the pages Kate was busy using to stoke the fire under her cauldron had been scrutinised by several sets of eyes.

“There’s nothing wrong with those chapters,” said my mate Pat, “and I should know!” Pat’s an English teacher somewhere in the south-east of England. And given what happened next, maybe that’s as much as I should tell you about him. Or her. I’m not saying.

“Well let’s find out!” I said. “Jules -” (that’s my long suffering assistant) “find me a proof reader!”

Which was how I came to meet Alison the Proof Fairy. I duly sent Alison the same first three chapters and expected to have them sent back with a covering email telling me that she couldn’t find anything to correct.

Boy howdy – how wrong I was.

I’ve just had a quick look at the document Alison returned to me – for old times sake – and believe me when I say I can feel my cheeks glowing again, just as they did almost two years ago. I’d include the file here for you to look at, if I wasn’t too ashamed to do so.

Needless to say I learnt several very important lessons:

Firstly, regardless of how you rate your attention to detail, unless you proof for a living it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll spot all the errors in your own writing. You’re just too darn close to it. But more surprising, unless your friends are professional readers (and may I respectfully point out that being a teacher doesn’t seem to be close enough), neither will they!

Secondly, agents don’t actually seem to accept anything. They reject. As would you if you had a mountain of manuscripts to get through. You’d work through those chapters looking for reasons to throw them out, until you finally unearthed the one document that hadn’t, in any way, made you want to toss it across the room.

Finally, two years on, having published How To Do Everything and Be Happy, with a further two titles waiting in the wings, I realise more than ever the importance of perfect spelling and grammar. I simply can’t take the risk that one of my readers might come across a typo. Particularly if that reader turned out to be Kate Slash. Heaven knows what she might do.

You can find out more about Alison the Proof Fairy and the services she offers at theprooffairy.co.uk

Music To Write To by Peter Jones

Filed under creativity & inspiration, writing craft by Peter Jones on January 16, 2012 at 12:01 am {4 comments}

Peter Jones explains why for him, the choice of background music is an essential part of writing

The internet is a wonderful place.

For instance, the other day I came across a ‘poll’ of Thirty Two people (I know!! Thirty two people! Not exactly extensive, or statistically viable, but bear with me…) that posed the following question important question:

When writing, what would you prefer to hear in the background?

Here are the fascinating results:

Loud music with vocals – 6%
Loud music, instrumental only – 3% (ie. one person!)
Music, but unobtrusive – 21%
Normal background noise – 15%
A quiet room/house – 40%
Silence (earplugs) – 12%

For me it’s a complex question – because the music that I have playing in the background is an essential part of my writing process. For instance, there are a number of scenes in my novel (The Good Guys Guide to Getting Girls – find out more here) when poor old Jason manages to screw up another promising relationship, or where his affections aren’t reciprocated, or where he feels like he’ll never meet the girl of his dreams. Writing these scenes could be a challenge, particularly if I wasn’t feeling that way myself, and unlike some authors who seem to live in a permanent dream-world where their characters seem so real to them that they no longer have any control over what they say or do, writing for me is more like theatre where I play every part. For this reason I usually need something to help me get into character, and music is the fastest way I know.

Here are some of the tracks I listened to (over and over) whilst constructing those heart breaking scenes (and if I’ve done this properly some of them link to youtube where you can listen for yourself)

A&E, Goldfrapp
Photos, The London Metropolitan Orchestra – from the movie ‘Cashback’
Things You’ve Never Done, Passenger
Suzy, The London Metropolitan Orchestra - ‘Cashback’ again
Driving With The Brakes On, Del Amitri
One True Love, Semisonic
Now Comes the Night, Rob Thomas
Elevator Beat, Nancy Wilson - from the movie ‘Vanilla Sky’
Wise Up, Aimee Mann – from the movie Magnolia
My Stupid Mouth, John Mayer – awesomely funny, sad song. Judging by the comments of YouTube, some guys feel about this song the way some girls do about the movie ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’
Drawing, The London Metropolitan Orchestra - ‘Cashback’ again!
In Your Arms, Kina Grannis – a fabulous lovely song, but really quite sad. The video is amazing but seems to me to be totally at odds with the mood of the song.

Notice that quite a few of them are taken from movie soundtracks. Movie soundtracks are a great source of mood inducing music (much of it instrumental) because, obviously, that’s the point of the music in a movie.

Likewise, for the scenes where it seems like Jason might be winning, where a new girl enters his life, or a date goes particularly well, maybe even really, really well (if you know what I mean), I came up with a selection of songs to get me jumping around in my chair, my pulse racing, or whatever else was needed to give the scene the necessary ‘ka-pow’

Toxic, Britney Spears – regardless of what you might think of Britney, this is a great song
Would You…?, Touch and Go - very sexy
God Put a Smile On Your Face, Mark Ronson
Must Be Dreaming, Frou Frou - this song makes my heart feel like it’s going to burst
The Sweet Escape, Gwen Stefani - whereas this one just makes me smile and smile
Come What May, Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor
Let’s Get It On, Marvin Gaye
Lifeline, Imogen Heap - I prefer the instrumental version, the lyrics tend to get in the way when I’m trying to write
Oh Yeah, Yello

So, good people of Amwriting, I’m interested to know whether anyone else does anything similar? Post your comments in the box below! Looking forward to reading them.

New Year – New Goals! by Peter Jones

Filed under writing craft by Peter Jones on December 27, 2011 at 12:01 am {no comments}

With the new year just days away, Peter Jones shares his passion for personal Goal Setting, and explains why failing them is a good thing.

So, in three days it’ll be 2012. And for the fifth year running I’ll be setting myself personal goals.

A lot of my friends dislike the idea of setting personal goals, like it somehow takes the ‘private’ part of their life – the part that is supposed to be about relaxing and having fun – and turns it into ‘work’. And work, as we all know, is the mortal enemy of fun and relaxation.

Perhaps you feel the same way? I know I did. Having read and listened to more than my fair share of self help books I thought I knew all that I needed to know about Goal Setting – enough to know that it wouldn’t work for me. And as I sat in traffic on the M25, morning after morning, listening to those Tony Robbins CDs, I’d start to wonder whether I’d enjoy them more if I wound down the window and tossed them, Frisbee-like, over the edge of the bridge and into the River Thames far below me.

That was, until I went out for a curry with my old friend Denny.

“I’ve set myself 5 goals for next year,” she told me one winter’s night in January.

“Goals?” I said

“Yeah,” said Denny as she mopped up some sauce with a strip of naan bread. I was stunned.

“Why?”

“Because I’m fed up with my life being like it is.”

“But, setting yourself goals – it’s a little extreme though, isn’t it?” She shrugged.

“Not really,” she said.

“But what if you don’t achieve them?” I asked.

“Then life will stay pretty much as it is, I guess. From that perspective I can’t really lose.” I thought about this for a second or two.

“Maybe I should set some goals,” I said.

“Maybe you should,” said Denny. “What would they be?”

And that was five years ago.

I like to set my goals at the start of each year, and review them at the end. This might make them sound a little like ‘resolutions’ but resolutions are something entirely different. “I will give up smoking” – that’s a resolution. “I have given up smoking (December, 2012)” – now that’s a goal.

Take for instance one of my goals for 2010:

My Happiness Book is published
(Dec 31st 2010)

At the time I set that the Goal I’d hardly started writing How To Do Everything and Be Happy, let alone given much thought to how I would publish it. I didn’t even have the title.

Did I achieve the goal?

No.

That’s the not so funny thing about setting goals – some of the time, perhaps even most of the time, you fail!

But then I’m not particularly motivated by ‘easy goals’ – goals that I know I have a good chance of achieving. They don’t even feel like goals – more like boring items on my to-do list. I had a friend who, on January 1^st, set herself the goal of joining a gym. By the end of the first week she’d achieved it. Was that really a goal? Shouldn’t joining the gym have been part of a much larger goal to improve her health and fitness? In my mind a goal should stretch you. A goal should be ever-so-slightly out of reach. With most of my goals I know that my chances of success are extremely slim, though the chance is there.

So my revised Goal for 2011 looked like this:

“How To Do Everything and Be Happy”
is available in three formats,
and selling really well (to be defined),
whilst I bask in the success (to be defined)
of the seminar(s)
Dec 31st 2011

And will I achieve that Goal??

No.

But I’ll come darn close. The book was released as an ebook back in March, and as a paperback a few weeks later. Both are selling better than I could have ever hoped. An audio version is planned for this coming year, and whilst I’m not exactly basking in the success of my one workshop, two more are being planned for the coming weeks.

Most important of all though, by identifying why I achieved or failed my goal I’m equipped to write smarter, more specific, or maybe utterly different goals.

Working with goals – that is, having them in your life – is something that gets easier the longer you do it. You develop a habit, or a mindset – after a while you start to look at everything you’re doing in relation to how it sits with your goals. In a very real way, your goals force you to decide what’s important to you and move you in that direction. They give you purpose and vision.

And it’s true what they say:

“Without vision the people perish.”

So, people of the interweb – what are your Goals for 2012. Drop me a line or use the comments box below – I’d love to hear from you.

Wishing you a very happy New Year

Peter Jones

Now what? by Peter Jones

Filed under ebooks, publishing, writing craft by Peter Jones on November 27, 2011 at 12:01 am {no comments}

Having sent the second draft of his novel back to his agent, Author Peter Jones explains why he’s not prepared to wait one moment longer

So, last time I was here you’ll remember I was sharing with you the challenge of having to bring a 115,000 word manuscript to under 90,000 – whilst shoe horning in another couple of chapters.

You’ll be pleased to know that I did it.

Two months to the day after I sharpened my editing pencil, the novel finally weighed in at 89,532 words and was promptly shipped back to my agent.

Now – apparently – I wait.

Let me just take this opportunity to segway into a barely concealed rant about how much waiting there seems to be in the traditional world of publishing. From the moment you type the words THE END on your manuscript you actually begin a perilous journey on the road to publication – most of which involves waiting for someone, somewhere, to come back to you.

Which is quite a shock to the system for a fella like me, when up til now the only person preventing me from moving forwards – was myself.

It doesn’t help that I come from a Credit Card Banking background where hard-nosed, money-minded gentlemen want everything this time last week – earlier if at all possible – and I hate to admit it now, but that suited me just fine.

You might have gathered that I’m not a patient person. In fact, in the words of Charlotte from The Importance of Being Earnest – “I hate waiting even five minutes for anybody. It always makes me rather cross.” But what makes the waiting even more torturous (for me at least) is that I’m acutely aware that there are no guarantees. In my head, every second that ticks by is just another moment when my manuscript might be buried under something else, never to see the light of day.

So what’s to be done? How can I prevent myself from gnawing off my forearm as I sit and stare at my empty email in-box? The answer – so I’m told (thank you Wendy, thank you Della - two ladies who have said this very thing to me many many times over the past few weeks) is to start writing my next book.

And that – lovely people of Amwriting.org – is exactly what I’m going to do.
Consider this a formal announcement as such, if for no other reason than I’ll look pretty silly if this time next month I haven’t actually done anything about it.

A few gems to whet your appetite. It’ll most likely be another non-fiction book. It’ll most likely be another self-help book. It’ll most likely be written in a similar style to How To Do Everything and Be Happy. And here’s where I really lay my head on the block – it’ll be finished, proof read, formatted, and on-sale (for the kindle at least) by next April. Ish.
Because… I wouldn’t want to keep you waiting.

In the meantime though feel free to torture me with your writing-related-waiting-experiences (I think I’m going to regret asking that) OR any pearls of wisdom you may have re the publishing process and how to survive it, in the comments box below.

5,497

Filed under creativity & inspiration, publishing, writing craft by Peter Jones on October 5, 2011 at 12:01 am {5 comments}

Peter Jones shares the joy of editing

Back in July you may remember that I told you how, after six years, my novel is almost finished.

Oh my god how wrong you can be.

Let me bring you up to speed on a few things: At the time of writing I had an agent, who, having read the first three chapters, liked the book and wanted to see the rest. Which would have been fine if the rest was just sitting around ready to be sent – but, it wasn’t. Hence the flurry of activity to finish it, and the aforementioned blog post.

A few weeks after typing the words THE END, the agent got back to me and invited me to ‘pop into her offices’ for a chat. There I sat, surrounded by books written by her other clients, whilst she told me that she really liked my manuscript – but she’d like it a whole lot more if I made some changes – namely;

lose a character,
add two more chapters,
bring the word count down to 90,000 words.

The first two items were achieved within a few days, but the third… well I’ve been struggling. As my novel weighed in at 115,000 words I was faced with having to cut 25,000.

This is what I tried first

made a list of every scene in the book (actually I had this already – a great tip that I picked up many years ago)
identify any scene that didn’t move the plot on – cut it
identify any scene in my heart of hearts I didn’t actually like – try and cut it
identify the wordier scenes – trim them agressively.

Two weeks ago I was down to 103,000 words. Still 13,000 left to cut.

Out of desperation I printed off the entire manuscript (something that my friend Wendy told me to do from the off), sat down with a red pen, and read the whole thing looking for anything that could go by the wayside, and a weeks later I was down to 97,000 words.

I’d be depressed if it wasn’t for the following
- I have an inch thick pile of pages covered in red pen that I’m working through (probably another 1000 words in there)
- I have a list of seven scenes that I could cut (though god help me I really don’t want to)
- the book is actually better.

And that’s the bit that’s really taken me by surprise.

Weeks ago my friend Della Galton told me my book would be better for the level of cutting I was embarking upon – and by golly she was right. Somehow, the very act of taking out the weaker words, scenes, and in a couple of cases whole chapters, has distilled what was left, and made for a much stronger story.

But please God I hope my agent doesn’t want me to lose any more. As of this morning I’ve still got 5,497 words to find.

The Write Trousers

Filed under writing craft by Peter Jones on August 16, 2011 at 5:07 am {3 comments}

When it comes to writing it’s vitally important to pick the right trousers – or so says Peter Jones.

My friend Wendy Steele recently confessed to me that she has ‘writing trousers’.

Exhibit A - Wendy's Writing Trousers

I nearly spat my tea all over her kitchen table. I’ve heard of writers who have a favourite pen (actually, I used to have a favourite editing pen – I was gutted when I lost it), and I know of writing folks who have to use a moleskin journal or the muse just won’t visit them, but ‘writing trousers’ was a new one on me. Needless to say I had to see them for myself. I present the reader with exhibit A.

Writing Trousers, so it seems, are more ‘practical’ than ‘elegant’. You’re unlikely to turn heads when wearing your writing trousers (not unless the head turning is accompanied with a mouth-open expression that says “what the…!?”). The entire purpose of writing trousers is to maintain a high level of comfort, and to carry out their trouser remit with minimal distractions that you might experience from, say, a pair of trendy, ripped in all the right places, but overly tight, jeans.

And the more I think about it the more I realise that I too have writing trousers. In fact, I have a whole writing outfit: On days that I’m here at SoundHaven HQ on my own (CJ doesn’t count. She doesn’t care what I wear so long as I am wearing something to cover my furless body) I prefer to put on a pair of linen thai-chi style tousers, an old but comfortable t-shirt, and my favorite cardigan – which, I hasten to add, I’d never be seen dead in but is so exceptionally soft and offers instant control over the change in office temperature as the sun plays peek-a-boo with the clouds. Add to this a pair of half moon specs and I confess that not only do I feel more comfortable, but were I to break that cardinal rule about creating a character that’s a writer (that should earn me an extra comment or two) he (or she) would pretty much look exactly as I’ve described.

Which brings me to the inevitable question of this month’s post – what do you wear When you write? Assuming you wear anything, of course. Looking forward to reading your comments. Shame it’s not possible for you to post pictures.

Almost Done

Filed under amwriting, creativity & inspiration, writers, writing craft by Peter Jones on July 7, 2011 at 12:01 am {4 comments}

Six and a half years after starting his novel, Peter Jones explains why only now is the end finally in sight.

I have almost finished my novel.

Let me put that into perspective: the book that I started writing on or around the 10th of October 2004 is almost complete. So why has it taken me so long? What – you may ask – have I been doing for the last six and half years?

Let’s back up a bit. First you need to know that I never intended to write a novel. Originally it was just a short story that amused my wife. And that was fatal, because having made her laugh she then suggested that I ought to continue the story, and turn it into a book.

Easy for her to say! This was the woman who would read a novel a week, sometimes two! This was the woman who would pack at least half a dozen books in our joint luggage, and supplement those with two or three tomes that she’d purchase at the airport. As far as my wife was concerned telling me to write a novel was akin to suggesting I put the kettle on and make a brew – whereas from my perspective she may as well have asked me to walk to India to pick the tea-leaves, and fetch the water from the frozen glaciers of Tibet on my way home.

But then, curiosity got the better of me. Maybe I could write a book. And maybe the way to tackle the task at hand was to treat it as a series of linking short stories? Write a chapter, and when I was satisfied that it was the absolute best it could be, move onto the next chapter?

And that was my first mistake. After three long years I’d written half a dozen chapters of utter rubbish. They were indeed ‘the best that I could do’, but the truth of the matter is, ‘my best’ just wasn’t very good.

Fortunately, around this time Apple invented the iPod. And soon after someone invented the podcast. And as a direct consequence Mur Laffety became a regular part of my car journeys. It was she who gave me (and the other listeners of her excellent podcast ‘I should be writing‘) the best piece of writing advice I’ve ever had: when writing a novel, write the WHOLE book – start to finish – BEFORE going back to edit. And in the absence of anything that was working, that is exactly what I did. A year and a bit later (29th of March 2009 to be precise), I’d finished the FIRST draft.

Several other things had happened too. I’d joined a writer’s group. I was reading and listening to every bit of writing advice I could lay my hands and ears on. And most important of all, I was a much better writer.

This, it turns out, was the power of Mur’s advice. There’s something about putting one word in front of another that makes you better at writing, just as putting one foot in front of another makes you better at walking, or running. Have you ever watched a toddler learning to walk? Right after they’ve fallen flat on their face, they pick themselves up and try again. They don’t analyse the last few steps, or wait for feedback from their peers, they keep moving forward. It’s how they get better at walking. And it’s how I got, and continue to get, better at writing. Just a year or so after I churned out diabolical chapter number six, I was two hundred thousand words better equipped to fix it. That, and the other forty four chapters.

The last two and a bit years have been spent editing. Yes I know what you’re thinking. Two and a bit years!! Only now am I getting to a point where I think I might have a handle on what proper editing involves – that however, will have to be the topic of a future post. What I’m keen to know is if this tale rings any bells. How long did it take you to finish your first novel? Why was that? And what lessons did you learn along the way? Post your comments below – I look forward to reading them. In the meantime, I’ve got a book to finish.

Beware the moon

Filed under amwriting, creativity & inspiration by Peter Jones on June 22, 2011 at 12:01 am {3 comments}

Beware the Moon

With the full moon a week ago, and a new moon on the 1st of July, Peter Jones explains why you might be feeling a little blue

Few people are aware, or even believe, that the moon has any kind of affect on our mood. But whilst every schoolboy knows that tidal flow is caused by the gravitational pull of the moon (though I once worked with a colleague who thought I was making that up), most rational people scoff at the idea that the moon could affect something as complex as a human being. And yet, perhaps the fact that our bodies are between 55 and 78% water goes some way towards explaining what police departments and accident and emergency wards have known for years – there may be a statistically significant correlation (and I chose that word carefully) between the phases of moon and the activities of people.

Now I’m not saying that around a full moon you might find yourself sprouting more facial hair, and developing a craving for dog food (although, maybe) but you might find yourself a little more stressed, a little more harassed. There have been studies (though I can’t vouch for any of them) that show that during or immediately following a full moon there will be more births, more animal bites, more incidents of ‘fake’ strokes (people with stroke-like symptoms that later turn out to be fine), and more visits to the doctor – presumably from all the births, animal bites and fake strokes. Though there are less cardiac arrests. There’s also (according to one study) less alcohol consumed; 26% less. And yet there are more incidents of violent crime, arson, and dangerous driving. And if the statistics are to be believed then these people who are beating each other up, setting fire to things or driving like idiots are apparently eating more; meal sizes allegedly increase by around 8% during a full moon. Why? No one knows.

It’s worth mentioning that there seem to be as many people ready dismiss and dispute these findings, as there are those ready to believe them. A simple internet search will return a bewildering number of websites arguing both sides of the debate.

In my own life however I’ve noticed that events and appointments seem to bunch up around a full moon, as if the people I work with unconsciously gravitate towards that date. And I’m not alone. Of course, we could all be seeing a pattern where none really exists, but it’s significant enough for me to find difficult to ignore.

More interestingly however is the waning moon. A week of so after the full moon, or to use the technical term, when the moon is “waning” (disappearing) as we move towards a new (dark) moon, some people find themselves feeling a little ‘flat’, lethargic or depressed. They don’t want to do anything. They just want to sit, and brood. And think. And wish. And imagine. Which is probably why I personally find this time of the month particularly good for generating new ideas about, well, everything!

Now I know how all this sounds. This post was originally an early chapter within my book How To Do Everything And Be Happy (available now from all good online booksellers!) – but I took it out at the last minute fearing that readers might get to that chapter and then read no further. The moon indeed! However, if there’s a shred of truth behind the numbers, if the moon really does affect us, directly or indirectly, this is information you can use. I myself have a Luna calendar, and the cycles of the moon in my diary. They’re not expensive, there are websites where you can print your own – there’s even an iPhone app. But I encourage you, the next time you’re feeling low or stressed, especially if it’s for no discernable reason, consult your luna calendar, and see if you notice a pattern emerging.

Mush

Filed under amwriting, creativity & inspiration by Peter Jones on May 24, 2011 at 12:01 am {3 comments}

Jam. Better on bread, than in your head

Peter Jones shares his secret of how to prevent your brain turning to jam after a long day’s writing.

I’ve never been one of those folks who can write in short bursts of five or ten minutes. Some people I know – let’s call them “women” – have this ability to juggle ten things at once, and whilst they make a phone call, surf the web, feed the gold fish, put another load of washing on, and gently remove the kitchen knife that little Johnny decided might be fun to play with, they manage to bash out another scene. If only my brain worked like that. Instead, the lump of grey matter inside my skull prefers to work on one thing at a time, and takes a while to warm up. I’m not suggesting this a male thing, but it’s definitely how I’m wired.

And that’s fine. Aside from the days when my assistant’s here, the only person who requires my attention is CJ. And given that there’s a garden full of birds to amuse her during the day, and mice to hunt during the evening, I’m largely left alone to immerse myself in “my craft”.

Which would be lovely. If only I could keep going.

Two hours in however and my brain is mush. It doesn’t feel like two hours, it feels like two days. I’m ready to throw in the towel, and congratulate myself on a productive, er.. time… if it wasn’t for the fact I’ve barely filled half a screen with words. I end up taking breaks. Tea breaks. Lunch Breaks. Just-check-my-email-breaks. Talk-to-my-assistant breaks. Phone someone-anyone breaks. Anything-other-than-continue-to-climb-the-damn-mountain-that-is-my-novel break.

And that’s a problem. Breaks do just that. They break something. In this case, my flow. I’d return to the writing, and I’d have to warm up my brain. Again.

At least, that’s how it used to be.

A year ago, through a set of circumstances that I won’t bore you with now (partly because I need something to blog about next month) I found myself writing a self-help book (How to Do Everything And Be Happy – available now – all good ebook stores- yada yada yada). Non-fiction writing is something that, like you, I’m so familiar with I don’t really consider it writing at all. In a world where so much communication has gone back to the written word (texts, emails, tweets, blog posts…) writing a self-help book just feels a LOT easier than writing a novel. It’s almost as if it uses less of your brain. Or maybe a different part. I’m sure some smart person will post a comment saying exactly that.

The really interesting thing though is what happened to my “Writing Days”. Rather than “taking a break” (to check my emails, make another cup of tea, etc etc.), I’d simply flip from the novel, to the self-help book – from fiction, to non-fiction – and when my brain felt less jam-like, I’d flip back. In my head at lest, this didn’t seem to register as a break – I’d feel rested yes, but my flow hadn’t been broken. I’d remained in writing mode the whole time so there was no need to warm up – and suddenly I was writing two books far faster than if I’d been writing just one.

I’m keen to know if this is just me. And if it’s the combination of fiction and non-fiction or whether working on two pieces of fiction at the same time would work just as well. Post your comments below.

In the meantime I’m flipping back to the novel.

Peter Jones

Filed under Author Bios (use only for bios!) by Peter Jones on May 4, 2011 at 3:16 am {no comments}

Peter Jones lives just few miles outside of London, with his cat CJ, who’s possibly the smartest animal never to have appeared in a cartoon. From his window he can see France and the Eiffel Tower. Or is that Canvey Island Oil Refinery?

Peter started life as a particularly rubbish Graphic Artist, followed by a stint as a mediocre Petrol Pump attendant. After that he got embroiled in the murky world of credit cards until a freak accident with a zip zap machine (remember those?) restructured my DNA at the molecular level and gave him entrepreneurial powers.

Now, when he’s not filling my days with the things he laughably call work, he’s writing. Even now he’s finishing his novel cheefully entitled “The Good Guy’s Guide To Getting Girls”. It’s good stuff. Honest. But don’t take our word for it, read more at:
www.thegoodguysguidetogettinggirls.com

The paperback version of his popular ebook ‘How to do Everything and Be Happy’ will be available June 2011. Nip over to www.howtodoeverythingandbehappy.co.uk for more info.

He doesn’t own a large departmental store and probably isn’t the same guy you’ve seen on the TV show Dragon’s Den.

Twitter: @soundhaven